(The AFL-CIO distributed the following on September 15.)
New members reported in this week’s WIP: 2,702
New members reported in WIP, year to date: 112,728
ACADEMIC UNION–The 2,100-member union of full-time faculty at the University of Cincinnati voted to affiliate with the Ohio Federation of Teachers recently. A majority of members of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) chapter voted for the joint affiliation, and the national AAUP and AFT boards approved the move. This fall, the chapter will meet to change its bylaws. Meanwhile, 47 lab technicians, librarians and child care workers at Owens Community College in Ohio voted Sept. 3 to join the Owens Faculty Association/AFT.
GETTING A HEAD START–A strong majority of about 200 teachers, bus drivers and other Head Start staff of the Southwest Community Action Council in Huntington, W.Va., voted to join SEIU District 1199WOK Sept. 10.
A VOICE IN THE CITY–Some 166 nonsupervisory city employees in Nogales, Ariz., won union recognition this summer with Communications Workers of America Local 7026. Mayor Marco Lopez Jr. (D) verified a majority of the workers signed cards indicating their desire to join the union, and the seven-member city council voted unanimously for recognition.
FIRED UP–Workers at Tyco Suppression Systems in Windsor, Ontario, voted to join Teamsters Local 880 in early September. The 108 workers manufacture fire extinguishers, fire blankets and other safety equipment.
A CLEAN CHOICE–The majority of 65 custodians at New York State College of Ceramics in Alfred, N.Y., voted Aug. 27 for a voice at work with Civil Service Employees Association/ AFSCME Local 1000. Meanwhile, in Mount Vernon, Ohio, the 16 nonprofessional workers at the Knox County Health Department voted for Council 8 Sept. 3. And a breakthrough first contract was reached in Maryland, with the 160 workers at St. Mary’s College becoming the first to reach an agreement among more than 6,000 workers at 12 Maryland public colleges and universities who have joined AFSCME.
OVERTIME PAY CUT GOES TO HOUSE–Action moves to the House of Representatives after working families gained a victory Sept. 10 when the U.S. Senate voted 54-45 to block President George W. Bush’s proposal that could take overtime pay protections away from more than 8 million workers. The bipartisan vote–six Republican senators backed the move–was on an amendment by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) that prevents the U.S. Department of Labor from implementing a Bush-backed overtime pay cut. The Harkin amendment was attached to the fiscal year 2004 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill (H.R. 2660). The next battleground will be in the House before a conference to meld the two bills into a final product begins. The House-passed version of H.R. 2660 does not include a ban on the overtime changes, but worker-friendly representatives are expected to offer what is called a “motion to instruct” House members of the conference to accept the Senate amendment. The Bush administration has threatened to veto the bill if the overtime protections are included.
BIG VOICE FOR MANUFACTURING–Thousands of the more than 30,000 people attending the annual LaborFest celebration in Detroit Sept. 13 showed their opposition to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by signing a 7-foot by 100-foot postcard urging Congress and the Bush administration to stop the flawed trade deal. The card will be delivered in a special U.S. Postal Service truck to Washington, D.C., and presented to Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). The card-signing kicked off the AFL-CIO’s Campaign for American Manufacturing, which spotlights the crisis in manufacturing. More than 2.5 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since President George W. Bush took office. The federation’s industrial unions have called for changes in the nation’s trade, tax and labor laws to promote workers’ rights and save domestic manufacturing jobs. Future campaign events are planned in a dozen cities, including Cincinnati, Cleveland and Dayton, Ohio; Milwaukee; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; and St. Louis. For more information, contact your local labor council. Working families throughout the hemisphere oppose the FTAA because it would expand the flawed policies of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has led to massive job losses in the United States and has not sparked promised economic growth in Mexico. Working families will deliver millions of postcards to the hemispheric trade ministers meeting in November in Miami. For more information and to download a ballot to stop FTAA, visit www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/globaleconomy/ftaamain.cfm .
RALLYING FOR JUSTICE AT YALE–Some 8,000 union and community activists rallied with striking Yale University workers Sept. 13 in New Haven, Conn., and 150–including AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney, UNITE President Bruce Raynor, SEIU President Andrew Stern, Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees President John Wilhelm and Carpenters President Douglas McCarron–were arrested. The 4,000 members of HERE locals 34 and 35 and the New England Health Care Employees Union, SEIU District 1199–who together with university teaching and research assistants make up the Federation of Hospital and University Employees (FHUE)–are seeking fair wages, job security and pension benefits. Sweeney also is asking union members to provide financial aid to the strikers by making a donation to the FHUE Strike Fund, c/o HERE, 1219 28th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007.
A VICTORY FOR K.C. NURSES–Culminating a three-year campaign that engaged community, political and religious allies, the 600 nurses at three Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) facilities in Kansas City, Mo., reached a tentative contract agreement Sept. 9. The nurses, members of Nurses United for Improved Patient Care, an AFT affiliate, work at Lee’s Summit Hospital, the Medical Center of Independence and Menorah Medical Center.
TWO TO GO–The UAW reached a tentative agreement with DaimlerChrysler Sept. 14 and is continuing negotiations with the other two Big Three automakers. Health care costs and secure pensions are key issues in the talks, which began July 16. The Big Three–General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler–all pay 100 percent of employee health care premiums. The contracts cover 330,000 workers, and this is the largest collective bargaining negotiation of the year. Details of the DaimlerChrysler agreement were not released.
COVERING THE UNINSURED–The California legislature passed a new law, proposed and strongly supported by the union movement, to provide health care insurance for workers at all but the smallest businesses. The bill, passed Sept. 13 and known as S.B. 2, awaits Gov. Gray Davis’ (D) signature. The new law would require employers either to purchase private health care policies for workers or pay into a statewide pool that would purchase insurance on their behalf.
SIGNING UP FOR ‘STARLIGHT EXPRESS’–Actors’ Equity signed an agreement Sept. 10 with Troika Entertainment for the national tour of the musical “Starlight Express.” The agreement covers wages, benefits and working conditions for the 30 actors and a stage manager. The tour is scheduled to play in major markets through the summer of 2004.
HOUSE SLOWS BUSH ATTACK ON FED WORKERS–President Bush’s drive to turn some 800,000 federal jobs and the services they provide over to private corporations hit a roadblock Sept. 9 when the House voted to kill new rules that would have made it easier to privatize the government work. The 220-198 vote was on an amendment to the fiscal year 2004 Treasury and Transportation departments appropriations bill. In addition, the House voted to restore the full 4.1 percent pay raise for federal workers that Bush cut by more than half in August.
SAFETY OPTIONAL–Two years after terrorists crashed four aircraft and killed thousands of Americans, anti-terrorist safety training for flight attendants is almost nonexistent, despite congressional mandates. Leaders of four unions representing flight attendants condemned actions of airline lobbyists who won a change in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization conference report to make safety training voluntary. The AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department is asking union members to urge their members of Congress to oppose the conference report (H.R. 2115). For more information, visit www.ttd.org .
PILLOWTEX WORKERS GET FEDERAL AID–The decision by the Labor Department to certify 5,000 former Pillowtex Corp. workers as eligible for benefits under the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program points out the need for new trade policies, said Harris Raynor, southeastern regional director of UNITE. Under TAA, workers who are unemployed as a result of increased imports or from a shift of production overseas can receive weekly income support, job relocation benefits and health care coverage tax credits for up to two years.
GLOBALIZATION DOESN’T WORK–The collapse of the World Trade Organization trade talks in Cancun, Mexico, over the weekend shows that globalization in its current form is not working, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. The world’s political leaders must reform the global economy to include workers’ rights and protections for the environment and the poor, he said. During the talks, the Bush administration proposed to end all tariffs on industrial goods, including textiles and apparels, by 2015, even though the domestic textile industry has been decimated by cheap foreign imports. Such a move would give companies incentives to move jobs to China, where workers are systematically denied their rights.
GOODYEAR PACT APPROVED–Members of the Steelworkers at 14 plants throughout the United States overwhelmingly ratified a new three-year contract with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. The new agreement provides job security and implements a process for the financially troubled company and the union to work together to create more efficient workplaces. The contract covers more than 19,000 workers.
CONFRONTING H&M–Hundreds of protestors and workers rallied outside the opening of H&M’s Chicago store Sept. 12, exposing the Swedish clothing retailer’s global record of worker harassment and sweatshop abuses. Led by UNITE, the protestors demanded H&M adhere to its publicly stated principles of corporate responsibility.
UNIONS OPPOSE AMTRAK NOMINEES–Transportation unions are lining up against President Bush’s nominations of three new members to the Amtrak board of directors–former American Airlines CEO Robert Crandall, former World Bank executive Louis Thompson and former Kmart chairman Floyd Hall. The nominees are wedded to the Bush administration’s plan to dismantle Amtrak, said Ed Wytkind, executive director of TTD.
LATINO POWER–Latinos will play an important role in the 2004 elections, and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) focused its Trabajando [Working] conference Sept. 10-13 in Washington, D.C., on strategies to increase Latino political strength through voter registration and coalition building. The conference coincided with LCLAA’s 30th anniversary as an AFL-CIO constituency group. For more information, visit www.lclaa.org .
Work in Progress is also available on our website at http://www.aflcio.org/aboutaflcio/wip .